Memory Alpha:Deletion policy
In the normal day to day operations of Memory Alpha, pages are deleted. While it is possible for any user to blank a page, the original content will still be available in the page history for others to view and put back if they wish. When pages are deleted, this removes not only the current version but also all previous versions. Only administrators have the ability to delete and undelete pages within the system. With our current deletion system (c.f. deletion management redesign), administrators necessarily must use their best judgment in making this decision. You can expect administrators to follow the process detailed below to aid them in their judgement. Deleted pages can be restored, by administrators, if and only if there is support on votes for undeletion. If deletions are made too casually, it is easy to lose track. Hence, the decision to permanently delete an article is not taken lightly, and the deletion process is followed. See Memory Alpha:Undeletion policy for the guidance on undeletion. Procedure for Deletion Requesting Deletion To request that a page or image be deleted, place it on the appropriate list: * Memory Alpha:Possible copyright infringements - for possible copyright infringements, both images and pages. * Memory Alpha:Images for deletion - for images and image description pages, not including possible copyright infringements * Memory Alpha:Pages for immediate deletion - for redirects, non-canon articles, and other uncontroversial pages. * Memory Alpha:Cleanup - if you're not sure that deletion is the best approach. * Memory Alpha:Votes for deletion - for all other pages Some of these pages have slightly different procedures - if so, these will be detailed on the page itself. Give the reason why you think it should be deleted. It will remain there for a time, giving other users the chance to comment on whether they think deletion is in fact appropriate. After an appropriate lag time, an administrator will delete the page if a rough consensus is reached - see Memory Alpha:Deletion guidelines for administrators#rough_consensus. Voting Format When expressing an opinion, please include your opinion, your reasoning, and sign with ~~~~(four consecutive tilde characters). Here are some suggested wordings: * delete * keep * redirect to article * merge into article and delete * merge into article and redirect * other (some other action) * comment (not a vote). Lag Times These different pages have different "lag times" — how long a page should normally be listed before it can be deleted (an article can be removed at any time. This gives other users the chance to comment on whether they think deletion is in fact appropriate. The lag times are discussed at Memory Alpha talk:Votes for deletion/lag time and are currently set at: * Possible copyright infringements - about a week * Images for deletion - about a week * Pages for immediate deletion - no lag * Votes for deletion - five days The remainder of this section (up to the "Candidates for speedy deletion" heading) is still only a proposed version of the policy; please discuss at Memory Alpha talk:Deletion_policy: To request that a page (or image) be permanently deleted, * A user's votes will be considered valid if that user: **has been in existence at least one week before the listing, and **has at least 15 non-minor article edits logged :Regardless of the above requirements, the page's initial author may vote (once). * At the end of five days, if 2/3 majority vote to delete, the page will be removed. Otherwise the page remains. The page will also remain if it has been improved enough since the initial listing that the reason for listing no longer applies anymore. This requires that a reason be given initially. Candidates for Immediate Deletion There are a few, limited, exceptions to the five day rule: # Unused redirects. # No meaningful content or history (eg "sdhgdf"). See patent nonsense. # Test pages (eg "Can I really create a page here?"). # Pure vandalism (see dealing with vandalism). # Very short pages with little or no definition or context. # Reposted content that was deleted according to this deletion policy. This does not apply to undeleted content that was undeleted according to undeletion policy. # Pages created and edited solely by a banned user, after they were banned (see bans and blocks). # New Memory Alpha user home pages accidentally created in main article space. However, move content to their user home page first, and consider waiting a day or two before deleting the resultant redirect. Sysops may also delete pages for the following technical purposes: # Deleting a redirect that has no useful history, to make way for a non-controversial page move. # Temporarily deleting a page in order to merge page histories after a cut and paste move. In these cases, administrators may choose to delete the page without it being listed on VfD, or after it has only been listed on VfD for a day or two. If you see a candidate for speedy deletion, and you are not a sysop, add it to Memory Alpha:Deleted test. Note that possible copyright infringements are not candidates for speedy deletion. Ideally, when a sysop deletes a test page or other page with no useful content, it is a good idea to put a note on the author's talk page explaining things, and preserving the deleted content, pointing them to the sandbox in cases of tests. Be friendly! Most everyone was new once. "Listed for Deletion" Notice When you list a page on Memory Alpha:Votes for deletion that you think will be listed for the entire 5 days (i.e., a page that won't be deleted immediately) it is courteous to let people know it might be deleted. The suggested way is to place the following or similar notice above the page's content: : : :This page has been listed as a candidate for deletion. In the normal day to day operations of Wikipedia, some pages are deleted. Please go to the Votes for Deletion page to discuss whether this page should be deleted. If you have questions about why this page was listed, you can also ask ~~~. Hopefully, this notice will prevent readers and new users from becoming confused as to why a page was removed. Please note: possible copyright infringements have a different suggested notice. Please use the "Copyright infringement notice" text from Memory Alpha:Boilerplate text instead. The notice is not needed for pages which a) have no content (such as redirects), and b) also have no significant history. (E.g. a redirect whose entire history is that it used to redirect from "Foo" to "Foobar", and has been changed to redirect to "FooBar", because the target page was moved, does not have any significant history.) A history which shows any content being added or removed is significant history. Unlisting a Page from VfD If another solution has been found for some of these pages than deletion, leave them listed on Memory Alpha:Votes for deletion for a short while, so the original poster can see why it wasn't deleted, and what did happen to it. This will prevent reposting of the same item. After the original poster has seen the explanation, or in any case after about a day, the page can be delisted from VfD. If the solution was a redirect, wait for a day to be sure that the redirect has "taken", then remove the article from VfD and list it on pages for immediate deletion, to confirm that the new-redirect isn't causing any problems. In these cases, the VfD discussion may be useful to the further development of the article in question, or to prevent repeating the debate in the future. Therefore, consider moving VfD debate to the article's talk page (or a subpage like talk:NAME/deletion). You may also wish to list it on Memory Alpha:Archived deletion debates. Always give a good edit summary when editing the VfD page, especially when unlisting a page, so that the page history of the VfD page can be used as backup archive for discussions that have not been regularly archived. What to List on VfD If a page does not fall into one of the nine categories listed at the top of this page, then you can not delete it without it first spending five days on Memory Alpha:Votes for deletion first. However, there are some pages that should not be listed on VfD at all, and should be kept. This section is about whether something should be listed on VfD, or just kept. Consider the following recommendations: * Don't list stubs for articles that have potential, but list stubs that are nonsensical. Also, redirect or list stubs that likely will never become more than a simple definition. See fix a stub. * Don't list articles that just need heavy editing; instead, list them on Pages needing attention, perhaps adding a warning notice such as a NPOV dispute notice to clarify the type of attention needed. However, consider listing articles that are just patent nonsense. * Redirect pages should be listed on Memory Alpha:Redirects for deletion only if the problems they cause outweigh their advantages. For more info, see our recommendations on deleting redirects. * List pages that you believe have no potential to become encyclopedia articles. For example, articles that represent completely idiosyncratic non-topics, articles that could never be more than dictionary definitions, etc. * Don't list source texts, but replace them with an external link and a stub. Alternatively, add an external link to a related article and redirect the pages for source texts there. * Don't list biased articles, even heavily biased articles, but add a NPOV dispute header/disclaimer. However, list articles if rewriting the facts in an NPOV way and removing unattributed opinions would leave no useful information. * List orphan images where you can't think of an article where they might be useful. * If a page has useful content but too little even to be a stub, this content can often be moved to another page, and the page changed into a redirect. Even without useful content the page can often be usefully changed into a redirect. Do not list these pages for deletion. However, do list a page if turning it into a redirect would cause problems - see recommendations on deleting redirects. * List articles that contain no verifiable information. However, do not list such articles until you have followed the nine-step procedure on Wikipedia: Verifiability. See also * Memory Alpha:Blankpages, Memory Alpha:Shortpages * Memory Alpha:Deletion guidelines for administrators ---- * Wikipedia: Deletion Policy (2003-12-03, 22:54 UTC). In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_policy